The fiscal cliff inaugurates year filled with challenges

If Congress somehow fails to turn off the tax hikes and indiscriminate budget cuts that make up the so-called fiscal cliff, 2013 will be a rough year for most Americans.

OUR VIEW

The new year was poised to get off to a melodramatic start, with Congress teetering on the edge of the infamous fiscal cliff as the clock ticked toward midnight Monday. Regardless of how that political melodrama turns out, the world won't end in 2013 — the federal budget is arcane and pretty scary, but it isn't the Mayan calendar. However, if Congress somehow fails to turn off the tax hikes and indiscriminate budget cuts that make up the so-called fiscal cliff, 2013 will be a rough year for most Americans. Most of the damage from the fiscal cliff can still be averted after Jan. 1, but if Democrats and Republicans can't make a deal with a deadline ominously hanging over them, the future of bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., will look bleak indeed. Just about everyone — from taxpayers, to officials in Volusia and Flagler counties, to Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature, to doctors and soldiers and so on — would be adversely affected if Congress went over the cliff. So the first order of business for the country in 2013 is to avoid the cliff and give the economy a chance to continue its recovery. Congress will likely reach some kind of deal on the cliff, but the next challenge is really tough: putting the brakes on federal spending, reforming massive entitlement programs and getting the $16 trillion federal debt down to a more comprehensible number. The challenges are less daunting in Florida, but they will require the full attention of lawmakers and policymakers at the state and local level. All in all, 2012 wasn't a bad year for the state as a whole or for Volusia and Flagler counties. However, a host of issues could emerge to make life more difficult for Floridians. For the Legislature, job No. 1, as always, is crafting a budget that meets the state's needs without overburdening taxpayers or creating problems in the future. The statewide economy showed some life in 2012, giving lawmakers reason to believe they will have a surplus this year. But a couple of looming threats, including, of course, Congress, could empty state coffers and leave the Legislature with the unpleasant prospect of once again scaling back funding for education and other key programs. If the state dodges the budget bullets, legislators should concentrate on improving funding for K-12 and higher education. And if the federal government finally gets out of the way of the state's plan to move Medicaid patients into managed care, the Scott administration can get to work saving taxpayers billions of unnecessary costs in the ever-growing $21 billion health care program. Here in Volusia and Flagler counties, the economy remains the top concern. Both counties showed renewed life in 2012, with tourism and the real estate market picking up after a long lull. Daytona Beach reinvigorated its main asset — the beach — by reopening the pier and adding the popular Joe's Crab Shack restaurant as a new attraction. However, as The News-Journal detailed in a series of articles last year, the beachside area continues to suffer from blight. The best solution is new residential and small-business development. A hope is that city and county leaders will focus more intently on the problem of blight in 2013. Volusia County comes into the new year with four new members on the County Council. This changing of the guard shouldn't disrupt momentum for consolidation of services, which improves efficiency and saves money. County leaders should push even harder on promising economic development prospects such as a proposed commercial spaceport in Southeast Volusia and the continued development of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's research park. Taxes will be an issue — voters seemed generally unhappy about Volusia's high ranking in the state on property taxes. Those taxes are levied by a number of government entities, but the County Council gets most of the attention from the public. New County Chair Jason Davis and other leaders will need to carefully examine county revenues and make cautious judgments about any proposed tax cuts. In Flagler, which is still dogged by double-digit unemployment, the focus is on jobs, jobs, jobs. New initiatives are needed to expand the county's jobs base and provide more homegrown employment. Volusia County's schools need relief from an onerous and unfair state funding formula. The district cost differential penalizes less-affluent counties. The formula should be revised to ensure that Volusia and other counties with a comparatively low cost-of-living aren't hit by big funding losses. But Volusia school officials would welcome temporary relief, in the form of supplemental funding, if the Legislature can't agree on an overhaul of the formula. Last but definitely not least, safety is a paramount issue for the schools and for the county in the management of local beaches. Volusia school officials should continue working to reduce the traffic hazards faced by students who walk to school. In the wake of the horrific murders at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, school officials in Volusia and Flagler should also evaluate new security measures. Volusia County has made it safer to drive on the beach, but officials must not lose sight of the beach safety issue in the new year.